Wire-stretcher.



No. 780,830. PATBNTE'D JAN. 24,1905. l G. F. STEPHENS. WIRE STRETGHER.

APPLICATION FILED APB.11, 1904.

FIGJI.

ATTYS.

Patented. January 24, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHESTER E. STEPHENS, OF CARTHAGE, MISSOURI.

i WIRE-STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.l780,830, dated January24, 1905.

Application iled April 11,1904. Serial No. 202,497.

To a/ZZ whom, it may concer-71,:

Be it known that I, CHESTER F. STEPHENS,

. a citizen of the United States, residing in .Car-

thage, in the county of Jasper and Stateof Missouri, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Wire- Stretchers, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and eXact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to an implement for stretching barb-wire orwoven-wire fencing; and it consistsin features of novelty hereinafterfully described, and pointed out in the claims.

Figure I is a perspective View illustrating my stretcher in position asutilizedin stretching barb fence-wire. stretcher in folded condition.

A designates a fence-post tonwhich fencewires B lead to'be secured tothe post after being drawn taut in the use of my stretcher.A

can, however, be made of any kind of bariron that is sti enough to holdfirmly and spread at the bottom to about two and onehalf feet, withsharp points to insert in the ground. This spread is made to give groundsurface enough to keep the machine from tipping sidewise when 1n use,thereby doing away with detachable side braces.

6 designates the arms of a U-shaped brace that are united by'a crossmember 7, that is adapted to bear against the fence-post A. The forwardends of the brace-arm 6 are connected to the frame 1 by a rod or pin 8,that passes th rough a pair of alining holes 5 in the framey wings i andthrough the brace-legs 6, that are positioned within the frame 1 at aheight cor- Eig. II is a view of the v responding to that of thefence-wire to be stretched. It will be seen that the rod or pin 8 seatsloosely in said holes. Therefore upon the withdrawal' of the rod thebrace may be raised or lowered to the location of another pair of theholes 5, corresponding to the elevation of another fence-wire. Thebrace-legs 6 are furnished at their outer ends with eyes 9, and they areconnected by a reinforcing-bar l0. 11 is a crank-shaft that is providedwith a crank-handle 12 and passes loosely through the brace-leg eyes torotate therein. 13 is a draw-chain or other lieXible member that isconnected to the crank-shaft-ll to wind thereon by means of an eye-pin15, that is removably seated in a pin-hole extending transverselythrough the crank-shaft.

16 is a pair of grip-tongs the leverage-arms the wire when held betweenthe jaws to pre- `vent the escape of the wire and the loss of gripthereupon.

In stretching a long strand of wire it is sometimes necessary whenthe'wire has been only partially stretched to go to the wire at a pointwhere it has sagged down and become caught upon an object, 'such as atuft of grass or weeds, and loosen it therefrom, and in so doing theincompletely stretched wire is shaken and unless the grip-tongs have afirm hold upon and entirely inclose the wire the wire is liable to slipsidewise from the jaws of the tongs and recoil, to the injury of theperson, handling it. By making the jaws of the tongs of the shapedescribed it will be Aseen that it is impossible for them to lose theirhold upon thewire, and therefore when the procedure` referred to is gonethrough .with it can be safely accomplished without the least liabilityof injury. i

17 is a stop-pin that is removably inserted through a pair of thepin-holes 5 in the frame 1 in the path of rotation of the crank-shaftIOC) Wire.

kafter the fence-Wire has been drawn taut until a staple is driventhereover into the fencepost to hold the wire previous to proceeding tothe next fence-post with which the stretcher is associated forstretching action.

In the practical use of my Wire-stretcher the parts in their assembledcondition are placed adjacent to the fence-post, with the frame'l inupright position and the cross member 7 of the brace resting against thefence-post, as seen in Fig. I. The crank-shaft being at this timerotatably mounted in the brace-eyes 9 and the stop-pin 17 being out ofthe frame, the grip-tongs 16 are applied to the fence-wire to bestretched and the crank-shaft is turned by its handle 12 until thedesired degree of tautness of the wire is secured, due to the draw-chainbeing Wound on the crankshaft. The stop-pin 17 is then introduced intothe frame l to hold the crank-shaft handle from retrograde rotation, andthe staple or staples are driven into the post to hold the The operatorthen releases the hold on the stretched wire and withdraws the rod orpin 8 and lowers the brace and crank-shaft combinedly to the elevationof the next wire to be stretched and reintroduces the rod 8 to upholdthe members, as before. The same performance is gone through withrespect to each wire to be stretched.

When the stretcher is not in use, it may be folded into compactcondition by removing the crank-shaft and moving the brace into aposition between the legs of the frame l as seen in Fig. II.

l claim as my invention- 1. In a wire-stretcher, the combination of aframe having legs provided with a plurality of pin-holes alined inhorizontal pairs, a brace having a pair of pin-holes adapted to registerwith any pair of frame pin-holes, a pin passing loosely through saidbrace pin-holes and through a pair of said frame pin-holes, a crankshaftjournaled in said brace, wire-gril'iping means carried by saidcrank-shaft and a stoppin removably inserted through a pair of thcpin-holes in said framein the path of rotation of the handle of saidcrank-shaft, substantially as set forth.

2. In a wire-stretcher, the combination ol an inverted-U-shaped frameprovided with pin-holes horizontally alined in pairs, a U- shaped bracehaving its legs positioned within said frame and having pin-holesadapted to register with any pair of frame pin-holes, a pin removablyinserted through said brace pinholes and through a pair of said framepinholes. eyes at the ends of'said brace-legs, a crank-shaft rotatablyand removablyseated in said eyes, a draw-chain removably connected tosaid crank-shaft, and wire-grippers connected to said draw-chain,substantially as set forth.

CHESTER F. STEPHENS.

In presence of- NELLIE V. ALEXANDER, BLANCHE HOGAN.

